Will continue to work for protection of stakeholders’ rights: Mistry

Mumbai, Dec 14 (IANS) Tata Sons ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry on Wednesday said he will continue to strive to be the “voice for change” in the Tata Group, its governance and protection of stakeholders’ rights.

“I will continue to strive and work at various forums to be voice for change in the Tata Group, its governance and protection of stakeholders’ rights,” Mistry said in a letter to the shareholders of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

“The outcome at TCS has only made my resolve to save the heritage of the Tata Group stronger, and I will continue to work on the crying need for governance reform.”

Mistry’s statement comes a day after more than 93 per cent shareholders of TCS voted to oust him as Director of the company in an extra-ordinary general meeting (EGM) held on Tuesday.

“I wish to thank the public shareholders of TCS, a company that I cherish, for their overwhelming support of bringing in good governance and reform,” Mistry’s letter read.

“I wish to remind all that polls at shareholder meetings are not a reflection for clamour for office or retribution for the breakdown in the rule of law in the Tata Group in recent weeks.”

Mistry elaborated: “We all knew the foregone outcome of TCS EGM. However, I made a plea to shareholders to vote to save the soul of the Tata Group.”

Mistry pointed out that the data on EGM poll showed that over 70 per cent of non-promoter TCS shareholders either voted against the resolution to remove him or abstained from the process.

“This meant nearly 20 per cent of the total votes in TCS (the promoters hold 73 per cent of the total vote); a reported 78 per cent of the votes cast by retail investors was against the resolution to remove me; and nearly 43 per cent of the votes cast by institutional investors were against the resolution to remove me,” Mistry said.

“The voting in TCS is, therefore, a strong signal from minority shareholders that the need for governance reform must not go unheeded.”